Why Mokele-Mbembe Is Not A Rhino

The Emela-ntouka has been an unknown animal of some confusion in Africa. A few chroniclers have felt it was merely another named cryptid representing the sightings of the Mokele-mbembe. But as revealed by an image seen here exclusively at Cryptomundo in the past, it appears to be a beast unlike the saurapod-like Mokele-mbembe.

Click on image for larger size

Copyright: Michel Ballot – Mokélé – Mbembé CAMEROUN 2004

On page 219 of one of my field guides, coauthored with Patrick Huyghe, we noted, among several different kinds of alleged “dinosaurs” in Africa, “one animal is called by locals the emela ntouka, or ‘killer of elephants.’ The semi-aquatic Emela-ntouka is described as more rhinoceros-like than the Mokele-mbembe, with a single horn that protrudes from its head.”

In 1981, Dr. Roy Mackal while searching the Congo for the Mokele-mbembe, collected accounts of these Emela-ntouka. The natives in the northwest region of the Likoula swamp told him that this animal would gore elephants with its single horn. Mackal initially considered that Emela-ntouka might be a Centrosaurus (“pointed lizard”) of the Ceratopsian family (formerly the Monoclonius). But he also noted the pygmies did not report a neck frill, which he would have expected on a ceratopsian.

A wet deep rainforest rhino photographed in Asia, used to illustrate how un-rhino-like the species sometimes appear.

I have long speculated in writing, and wondered aloud if there might be an unknown new subspecies of aquatic rhinoceros in the Cameroon-Congo area, captured in the folklore of the Emela-ntouka ~ and confused for ease of discussion by the media with the Mokele-mbembe.

Troubling in the identification has been the long tail seen on the Emela-ntouka. Rhinos have short tails. Disturbing to the ceratopsian school has been the lack of a neck frill, and the dubious survival of dinosaurs into modern times.

Today, William Gibbons shares his firm point-of-view that Mokele-mbembe is not a forest or aquatic rhino. Gibbons sorts out the various cryptids being described, and discusses the giant spider too.

Regarding the supposed identification of the Mokele-mbembe as a rhino, I believe that the BBC crew interviewed the Aka people of Congo-Brazzaville. Depending on the tribal group being interviewed, Mokele-mbembe is sometimes used as a generic term for any unusual or unknown animal. This is why it is important to interview only first hand eye-witnesses who have actually encountered the animal.

In my 22 years of research into this mystery, there are over a dozen major tribal groups that inhabit the Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon the Congo Basin, Uganda and southern Sudan that are familiar with Mokele-mbembe or at least animals that are remarkably like them.

For example, the names attributed to hippo or elephant sized long-necked animals throughout Equatorial Africa include; amali, badifui, dibi, embulu-mbembelu, lukwata, isiququmadevu, Jago-nini, songo, M’koo-m’bemboo, Mokele-mbembe, and La Kila-bembe. Regardless of the ethnic or tribal group involved, all eye-witnesses describe these animals as being hippo to elephant sized, with a long thin neck, a small lizard or snake like head, a long flexible tail and four powerful legs. In the northern Congo a rooster-like frill adorning the top of the head is sometimes described, and in southern Cameroon the dermal spikes are attirbuted to the animals.

The skin colouration ranges from a smooth, reddish brown texture to thick, armoured skin similar to a caiman. The habitat of all described animals remains basically the same, namely, rivers, swamps and remote jungle lakes. There have been several eye-witness accounts of the animals moving around on land, either in search of food or to move from one location to another.

We can confidently establish that Mokele-mbembe at least looks remarkably like a small to mid-sized sauropod dinosaur as we might imagine in life, although the animal could well be something entirely different. It is rare, completely semi aquatic, able to stay under water for lengthy periods of time, is violently territorial and greatly feared by all tribal groups that know them well.

In my forthcoming book there will be photographs of the caves we have found, as well as very large footprints (about 10 days old) we found in the mud on swamp island where the animal was known to feed up until 2004.

Regarding the rhino-like cryptid, this animal is known as the Emela-Ntouka in the Congo, and N’Goubou in Cameroon. The Congolese animal is said to possess a large, single horn which it uses to attack and disembowel elephants, hippos and anything else that gets in its way. The Cameroonian animal possesses two horns that are placed side-by-side on the top of the animal’s head rather than the snout. This may be nothing more than sexual dimorphism within the same species.

Timbo Robert, the Baka chief of Cameroon, killed one such animal in 1996 in an elephant trap that he and his villager dug on an elephant trail that led from the Boumba River into the forest. Again, the witnesses described to me the two unusually configured horns on the animals head.

The multi-horned animal, still known as the N’Goubou, lives in an area of savannah that borders Cameroon and the Central African Republic. It is descrribed as being as big as an elephant, with a prominent neck frill, beaked mouth, and sporting between three and six horns. The animals are observed in small groups or herds of about six individuals, and once a female gives (live) birth to a single calf, it will leave the group and raise its offspring for about a year before returning to its herd.

Once again the animals are described as ill tempered and will chase away or kill elephant on site. Although the popular idea is, that the animal could be a surviving ceratopsian, I am open to the idea that we could be dealing with a hitherto unknown species of armoured rhino of some kind. Pierre Sima, our Cameroonian colleague, took the opportunity to examine a specimen that was shot by villagers in November 2000. After describing the animal in detail, he carefully examined all the illustrations in our binder, finally picking out the Triceratops as being most like the animal he examined before it was butchered for its meat.

As for the giant spider, this remains an enigma. There are only a handful of reports of giant spiders around the world. The Baka are resolute that the Jba Fofi is a spider. They killed some large spiders for us to examine, and explained that the Dja Fofi was like a tarantula (which they eat!), except its leg span is between four to six feet.

It is reddish brown in colour in its juvenile/infant stage, eventually turning a mustard yellow as it reaches maturity. As the Baka are in the habit of killing these monsters, whatever they are, I am hoping to establish a reward for anyone who kills and keeps one of these creatures for us to examine.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Email • Facebook • Twitter •